With Arsenal’s injury list showing no sign of shrinking, the emergence of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly as genuine first-team options has been a significant boost for Mikel Arteta and a testament to the excellent work being done at the Arsenal Academy.
The teenage duo have stepped up impressively this season. Nwaneri announced himself in the Carabao Cup, offering a creative alternative to Martin Odegaard, and more recently filled in admirably for Bukayo Saka in the 3-1 win over Brentford.
“He’s a player who can play in various positions,” said Arteta ahead of Saturday’s match with Brighton.
“It’s not a position that he’s played a lot, to be fair, even when he was in the academy level, but he can adapt, basically, for the demands that we have in two, three positions, and I think he did really well the other day.”
Meanwhile, Lewis-Skelly, who came through the ranks as a midfielder, has seamlessly transitioned into a left-back role, pushing summer signing Riccardo Calafiori for minutes.
There’s even talk he could be selected by England in the near future although Arteta cautioned against getting carried away: “I think the focus has to be establishing first of all [himself] as a first-team player and performing at the highest level, and things will happen naturally if they have to happen.”
Having faced criticism in the past for not fully integrating academy graduates into his plans, Arteta says he’s thrilled by the progress of the club’s young talent and reiterated his commitment to looking at internal solutions before turning to the transfer market.
“The first thing that we want is to look in the Academy, can we get what we want in the academy, that’s option number one,” said Arteta when asked if he’d set himself the target of fielding more youngsters.
“If we don’t have it there then we have to look elsewhere, or we have to develop our players to different positions and make them more versatile, we have to go in the market and recruit.
“I think those two players [Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly] are playing because they deserve it, not because of injuries, because we had other options to play other players, and they are playing because they deserve to play.”
The Spaniard also made clear that while there are clear financial benefits to raising rather than buying talent, the policy of blooding youngsters goes deeper than that. He also revealed the club is trying to make pathways more viable by identifying and developing talent that can fill problem areas in the first squad.
“Regardless of the PSR [Profit and Sustainability Regulations], that [playing youngsters] is the first intention that we always had,” he said.
“The thing is, what you need is it available in the academy in the time frame that you need it? Because we can have a lot of talent, but maybe that talent doesn’t have a space in the squad.
“It’s something that we have built over the years to create with the players that were coming through, a space in that squad, so we can after fulfil those gaps with the players that we have.”
Having honed his own game in Barcelona’s esteemed football factory, La Masia, Arteta knows first-hand the benefits of being immersed in a club’s culture. He wishes Arsenal could offer a similar environment but acknowledged there’s little flexibility in UK regulations, perhaps a lament that communal living isn’t something the club can offer.
“I would love, but the regulations here unfortunately are very different, and a lot of the things that in my opinion are the most impactful things, we cannot do them here,” he said.
All the same, Arteta is very positive about how the Arsenal Academy has evolved under his former teammate Per Mertesacker and, when asked what more he expects, replied: “Many more coming through, and especially that they feel that they have a chance at any moment.
“Anybody, and the academy means players and staff, because the first thing we do with the staff is exactly the same, that everybody has the ambition, the purpose, and the intention to prepare and to show that at any moment they can come and be part of our team.
He added: “We have put a lot of work in, Per [Mertesacker] and the team have done a lot of great work and we are on it.
“We know the level. As well with the system that we have at the moment, for where they are playing to where they have to come, the gap is huge, but we are trying to find ways to make sure that they can fulfil that gap as quick as possible.”
Save some dosh.
Make some too. I’m guessing MLS alone is worth around £20-30m already.
Five of our ten most expensive sales have been academy players (four of which were English (and technically Balogun wasn’t American until we sold him)).
I’m not saying it won’t work out for MLS or I want us to sell him. But a young English player with a bit of premier league experience is worth his weight in gold.
1 kilo of gold is worth roughly £100k (quick google, happy to be corrected). Unless Declan weighs 1,000 kg he’s worth “weigh” more than his weight in gold.
Hahaha!
Love this Seph!
Thank you for correcting me xx
I don’t think you’ll find a shortage of clubs willing to pay 35-40mil for him at this point. You just don’t see 18 year old full backs starting games for a club competing for the top trophies and performing on that level.
You’re probably right. So now we basically have £100m of talent that just walked through our academy doors for nothing.
Love. This. Club.
Ethan Nwneri is already considered the world’s most valuable U18 attacking midfielder by Transfermarkt, rated at 30 million euros. He is ranked ahead of Kendry Paez and Franco Mastantuono, both of whom are widely regarded as massive talents.
Transfermarkt has him ranked as the second highest value LB in the U18 category, behind only Jorrel Hato. Expanding that search to U21 reveals Lewis Hall, Milos Kerkez and Alejandro Balde as his chief competition, but all of those guys are at least 2 years older than him.
I think in terms of the trophies these young boys will hopefully make us win. Nwaneri seems to have something that we have but do not brim with: Mental strength.
For example, this is the time to put massive pressure on Liverpool with Salah announcing he will leave and Trent in discussions with Real Madrid. Time to launch a machine against oppositions with speedy attacks and counterattacks. Stopping the ball and carefully thinking about how to score does the job but doesn’t have impact on competition.
Meanwhile, Manchester B have shown their ambition by, er, exercising their option to extend Harry Maguire’s contract.
It’s like deciding to keep Ten Hag, only funnier.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I do feel like this team needs that little bit extra to get us over the line and win some serious trophies.
I always thought that would come from a marquee signing. But maybe, just maybe, it’ll come from these hungry young lads with bags of talent and serious passion for the club.
Why do I feel like Max Dowman will break Nwaneri’s youngest player record in the next year or two…?
Because he probably will, before the end of this season.
Man, I didn’t even have decent hair on my balls when I was 14…
Sc(hairy) thought
With Kai back in the squad I’d be tempted to play either Jesus or Martinelli on the right for this particular game. Not a reflection on the other players but basically Brighton has their best workforce down that wing with Mitoma and the tireless runs of Estupinian.
Then again a player like Ethan could benefit from the space they leave behind
This game will be all about our ability to break their press. Ethan’s ability to carry would help with that. I actually like the balance with him and Martinelli, but it would also be totally fine to play Jesus there. This might be a game for Zinchenko or Jorginho to give us another passing reference point next to Odegaard, especially since Thomas will be playing RB.
Mertesacker has been a great servant to the club: I remember him talking years ago about the culture he wanted to instill in the academy and the personal development he wanted to see in the kids and when you watch Nwaneri and MLS we’re seeing the result – their maturity, confidence and attitude has to be a tribute to that.
Young Jack Porter too – exceptionally composed for his age when called upon.
Excellent comment here.
Couldn’t agree more and the BFG gets nowhere near the credit he deserves for the work happening in the acamdemy.
When I see La Masia keep bailing out that crackpot of a club, I wonder what they feed those kids. Man City and Chelsea had hoovered most of the youngsters in England for the last 15 years. Hope we breed that level of talent that frequently someday.
“I wonder what they feed those kids” well seeing that they’re on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, plenty of olive oil, fresh fish and seafood, jamon ibérico, lots of fruit and veg, and a climate with plenty of vitamin D and that makes people smile all year round, not just in summer. Wouldn’t be surprised if all of that works better than any ‘roids.
the bit about us not being able to develop something akin to La Masia over here due to regulations caught my eye. Would be great to have a pod or extended article on what the differences are between La Masia for example and UK club academies, and why those differences exist.
Brexit for a start.
Fuck you Boris ‘no more Cescs’ Johnson